Azerbaïdjan: UN Committee against Torture to intervene to stop torture and save lives of anti-torture activists
PRESS RELEASE
Azerbaijan:
UN Committee against Torture to intervene to stop torture and save lives of anti-torture activists
Geneva, 10 November 2015 – On the eve of Azerbaijan’s hearing by the
UN anti torture body, the OMCT and IPHR provided a briefing on torture
and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in Azerbaijan.
Both organizations are lodging an urgent call to the Committee against
Torture (UNCAT) to hold the authorities to account for the arbitrary
arrest and detention of leading anti-torture activists calling for their
protection and safety amidst serious concerns over their security.
Over the last two years there has been an internationally unprecedented
clamp down on any critical human rights voice, including the countries
leading anti-torture activists. In unfair trials, dozens of Human Rights
Defenders have been sentenced to long-term imprisonment for fraud,
illegal business, or hooliganism as a punishment for their human rights
activities and for raising their voice against a corrupt and autocratic
government. There have been repeated and credible concerns over violence
against human rights defenders, such as Leyla Yunus, member of the OMCT
General Assembly.
The OMCT and IPHR have brought this and other cases to the attention of
the authoritative UN anti-torture body. There is no torture prevention
when all credible human rights defenders supporting victims of torture
and supporting their call for justice are detained, driven to exile or
silenced.
“We are concerned over the safety of our colleagues and members. We fear
the return of patterns suggesting a clear intention not only to
arbitrarily detain but to break human rights defenders in prison”, said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.
“The
attempted logic of ‘no defender’ – ‘no torture’ is a greatly alarming
defying truth and justice. The ‘no defender’ - no torture’ approach also
questions the very integrity of the reporting process under the UN
Convention against Torture”, he added in a comment.
The OMCT and IPHR also informed the UNCAT about the conditions,
including in the detention facilities under the Ministry of National
Security where prisoners are held in almost complete isolation. Both
organizations consider that the continuous existence of such detention,
almost two decades after the start of prison reforms in Azerbaijan, is
unacceptable and in violation of international human rights standards.
A number of Human Rights Defenders further suffer from serious health
conditions and are deliberately prevented from receiving adequate health
care. Alarmingly, the Ombudsman Office and its National Preventive
Mechanism, whose establishment the international community had supported
over the last decade have largely justified government policies against
human rights defenders. Earlier last year the UN Sub-Committee for the
Prevention of Torture in a very rare occurrence had to suspend its visit
to Azerbaijan for a lack of cooperation by the authorities – another
indication of the authorities’ attempt to supress independent scrutiny
to its treatment and detention record.
“The International community has invested a great deal into the
setting up of National Preventive Mechanisms and Ombudsman Institutions,
mandated to monitor places of detention and to prevent torture. In
Azerbaijan, these mechanisms are completely failing. It is time that
these institutions live up to their expectation and assume their
responsibility. Ultimately, without any credible civil society voice
left we have to assume that whatever is known today about custody,
detention and ill-treatment is only a glimpse of a tip of the iceberg”, said Brigitte Dufour, Director of the IPHR.
The review of Azerbaijan’s report will take place on Wednesday 11
November 2015 (10am to 12pm CET) and on Thursday 12 November 2015 (3pm
to 6pm CET) and can be followed live on treaty body webcast:
www.treatybodywebcast.org. The OMCT will also be reporting from the
session using Twitter.
For further information, please contact:
- OMCT, Nicole Bürli, Human Rights Advisor, Tel.: +41 (0)22 809 49 26, E-mail: nb@omct.org
- IPHR, Simon Papuashvili, Project Manager, Tel.: +32 (0)2 880 03 99, E-Mail: simon.papuashvili@iphronline.org